Tbilisi. The Centre for Multiparty Democracy (EECMD) published a statement. Organization condemns the reintroduction of the Russian Law (draft Transparency of Foreign Influence law) by Georgian Dream.  „Last year, Georgian Dream promised both the Georgian and international communities that it would not reintroduce this law. By doing so now, it is breaking its promise and deceiving the public. If enacted, this law will abolish independent CSOs, media, and educational institutions. It is also clear that Georgian Dream fears a truly competitive and fair electoral process. This law would make holding free, fair, and competitive elections impossible, thus undermining its legitimacy.  We urge Georgian Dream to immediately cease its efforts to enact this law and to refrain from diverting the country from its democratic and European path“.  More… Source: EECMD

Georgia: Statement by the Spokesperson on the draft law on “Transparency of Foreign Influence”: "The announcement by the ruling party in Georgia to re-introduce a draft law on “Transparency of Foreign Influence” raises serious concerns. The EU recalls the public pledge of the Georgian government and the ruling party to “unconditionally withdraw” such legislation last year. The EU regrets that it is once again being considered despite strong public and international reactions in March 2023.  Step 9 includes a recommendation for Georgia to make sure that civil society can operate freely and Step 1 calls on Georgia to fight disinformation against the EU and its values. Transparency should not be used as an instrument to limit civil society’s capacity to operate freely.  We encourage the political leaders in Georgia to adopt and implement reforms that are in line with the stated objective of joining the European Union, as supported by a large majority of Georgia’s citizens. The EU calls on Georgia to uphold its commitment to the promotion of democracy, the rule of law and human rights." More... Source: European Union in Georgia

The parliamentary majority's plan to attempt once again to pass the draft law known as the 'Russian law' poses a dual threat: it endangers the stability and functioning of civil society, while also jeopardizing Georgia's EU accession process. As the leader of the parliamentary majority, Mamuka Mdinaradze, said at a briefing held on April 3, the decision was made after consultation with the political council of the ruling party. According to his own statement, the draft law would be submitted to the parliament with practically unchanged text, but instead of the term ‘agent of foreign influence, the new version of the draft law would use ‘organization pursuing the interests of a foreign power’. On the same day, the ‘Georgian Dream’ submitted the draft law to the parliament. According to the parliamentary majority leader, "the civil sector remains the most non-transparent sector in Georgia" and non-governmental organizations are involved in implementing "revolutionary scenarios" and financing extremism. According to him, NGOs are conducting a Soviet-style campaign against the independence of the judiciary, spreading pseudo-liberal ideology, attempting to undermine public trust in the Georgian Orthodox Church, and engaging in actions against the country's energy independence, as well as what he terms 'LGBT' propaganda. Additionally, he accuses civil society organizations of attempting to manipulate election outcomes and of waging a covert war against Russia. According to Mdinaradze, this law will ‘in the long term’ prevent attempts to artificially incite unrest in Georgia. It is noteworthy that the decision of the parliamentary majority to re-submit the initiative to the parliament followed statements made by the ruling party and representatives of the executive government in recent weeks. During these statements, so-called civil society organizations were accused of discrediting the judicial system by advocating for the ‘vetting system’ and engaging in LGBTQ+ propaganda. Considering the well-known events of March 2023 and the subsequent developments, the initiation and potential approval of the mentioned draft law will harm the civil space, resulting in: Disruptions in the functioning and activities of civil society and its individual members; Activation of hostile rhetoric and discredit campaigns directed against the civil sector; •Reduction or complete elimination of opportunities for cooperation between the state and civil society organizations;  Hindrance of the capacity of civil society organizations to advocate for and provide services, especially to vulnerable groups. Furthermore, the mentioned initiative and the consequent restriction of civil space will exacerbate the situation regarding human rights protection in Georgia. It is important to note that with the upcoming parliamentary elections of 2024 in mind, the submission of the draft law to parliament further exacerbates the level of polarization in the country, thereby negatively affecting the state of democracy. It is essential to recognize that the potential approval of the draft law could hinder the progress of implementing the nine steps necessary for Georgia to start negotiations to join the European Union. It is imperative to consider the negative evaluations from various European Union structures last year, when the law was first initiated and supported in its initial reading. According to these assessments, the law was incompatible with EU values and standards and contradicted Georgia's stated goal of becoming part of the Union. Also, the final adoption of the law would have a serious impact on the relations between the European Union and Georgia. It is additionally noteworthy that the press spokesperson of the EU High Representative has expressed serious concern over the ruling party's announcement regarding the reintroduction of the draft law on ‘transparency of foreign influence’.

Guria.On March 24, Education Development and Employment Center organized a workshop for young people living in Guria. he workshop was organized within the framework of the European Union (EU) and Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) funded project “Civil Society STAR Initiative: Sustainable, Transparent and Accountable Civil society Organizations (CSOs) for the Development of Georgia” (2021-2025). The project is implemented by the Consortium led by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) and composed of the following CSOs: Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia (CSRDG), Civil Society Institute (CSI), Center for Training and Consultancy (CTC), Education Development and Employment Center (EDEC), and Institute for European Politics (IEP). More... Source: Education Development and Employment Center

Imereti.The Education Development and Employment Center started cooperation with Kutaisi public schools to promote volunteer activities, within which the schools started implementing various volunteer activities, one of which was the activity carried out by Public School N17 of Kutaisi. As part of the International Book Reading Week, a dedicated group of student volunteers took it upon themselves to collect books and distribute them amongst the children residing in the nearby village. The project is implemented by the Consortium led by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) and composed of the following CSOs: Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia (CSRDG), Civil Society Institute (CSI), Center for Training and Consultancy (CTC), Education Development and Employment Center (EDEC), and Institute for European Politics (IEP). More... Source: Volunteer

Kakheti. Get more familiar with the works of Pankisi Women's Council on raising the awareness of local women around issues of reproductive health and available medical services. The organisation helps women settled in small mountainous villages of Pankisi where the topics of reproductive health are silenced by the tradition.  The Elder Women Council has implemented this initiative with support of the Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia (CSRDG), within the framework of the European Union (EU) and Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung funded project 'Civil Society STAR Initiative'.  More… Source: euneighbourseast.eu

Tbilisi. The EU Delegation recently invited people to ask their questions about what the EU candidate status means for Georgia and its citizens. Here are our answers!  Watch the EU Ambassador Pawel Herzcynski addressing some of your questions below. Stay tuned for more answers coming soon.  Check out the whole Q&A on webpage... Source: eu4georgia.eu

Tbilisi. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has released the 5th Round Monitoring reports for Azerbaijan, Armenia, Moldova, and Ukraine, developed by the Anti-Corruption Network (OECD/ACN). About this Georgian CSO’s published joint statement: “Georgia is urged to re-join the OECD/ACN process in alignment with the European Commission's recommendation”. More… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. The Coalition for Independent and Transparent Judiciary shares concerns regarding recent statements from members of the "Georgian Dream" party. “These remarks, which seek to discredit judges holding differing opinions, have a concerning impact on the freedom of expression of judges. Such rhetoric not only undermines judicial independence but also jeopardizes the country's path toward a European future”. More… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi.A Coalition of 12 civil society organizations led by the Civil Society Foundation has developed a detailed vision outlining how the nine steps spelled out by the European Commission should be effectively fulfilled to move to the next stage in European integration and achieve the opening of negotiations on accession to the EU.  The Coalition will continue to monitor the progress of the nine steps relying on the presented vision. CSOs will work out recommendations and make efforts to support both government accountability, transparency of reforms and boosting of inclusiveness.  Meanwhile, the Coalition holds meetings with relevant stakeholders. The goal of these working meetings is to share the vision of civil society and exchange opinions on the reforms that need to be implemented to fulfill nine steps.  More… Source: Civil Society Foundation

Tbilisi. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (MFA), through its Department of European Neighborhood (EUN), in partnership with UN Women Europe and Central Asia Regional office, proudly announces the launch of the "Women’s Increased Leadership for Resilient and Peaceful Societies" programme.  The four-year initiative, set to unfold across Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine, is a decisive step towards enhancing conflict prevention, mediation, and the fortification of democratic resilience in three countries with a special focus on their EU accession journey.  The project in Georgia aims to enhance human rights and resilience in communities affected by conflict, targeting young women for inclusion in peace and rights activism, and improving economic opportunities for the most marginalized, such as IDP and conflict-affected women. The initiative represents a significant commitment to advancing gender equality, reducing disparities, and fostering sustainable development in Georgia and the broader region.  Source: UN Women Georgia

Tbilisi. To mark Open Data Week, IDFI publushed Open Data Toolkit.  The practical toolkit provides the definition and basic principles of open data, as well as modern techniques and tools for data collection, processing, analysis and visualization.  More…  Source: IDFI

Tbilisi.The Civil Society Foundation publishes the appeal of public organizations to European Commissioner Oliver Varhei. "We are pleased that in December 2023 European Union decided to grant Georgia Candidate status.  It is an important step forward on the way towards EU membership for our country, which should be accompanied by speedy reforms in 9 priority areas identified by the EU Commission.  The involvement of civil society in the legislative and policy-making process still remains one of the key components across these nine steps. The undersigned organizations express readiness to play an active role, contributing to the European Integration and democratic transformation of Georgia, ensuring that the aspirations of the majority of the Georgian citizens to join the EU are adequately reflected in state policies." More... Source: Civil Society Foundation

Tbilisi.On March 5, Human Rights Center welcomed Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway to Georgia, H.E. Bergljot Hovland in its office. During the meeting, HRC representatives and Ambassador Hovland discussed the state of human rights and challenges in the work of the civil society organizations in Georgia. HRC members informed the Ambassador about their cooperation with local and international organizations, about ongoing projects.  The perspectives of future cooperation with the Embassy was also discussed. More... Source: Human Rights Center

Imereti.Local Democracy Agency Georgia held an online consultation meeting with representatives of civil society organizations and active citizens of Tkibuli municipality. The purpose of the meeting was to research the needs of civil society organizations operating in Tkibuli. he meeting was held within the framework of the project "Civil Society STAR Initiative'' , which is supported by the European Union (EU) and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS). More... Source: LDA Georgia

Tbilisi.Transparency International - Georgia: "Cases of alleged corruption are increasingly on the rise in the regions of Georgia." Companies associated with public officials and Bidzina Ivanishvili are obtaining large contracts from public procurers.  The document collects those suspicious Tenders and simplified procurements that “Transparency International - Georgia '' investigated at different times and officially addressed the relevant state structures to respond to the alleged corruption cases that appeared in these procurements. More... Source: Transparency International 

Tbilisi. The coalition "for independent and transparent justice" is contacting you with a request to organize a workshop.  The purpose of the meeting will be to discuss the implementation plan of the court's part of the recommendations of the European Commission, in particular, to discuss the reform implementation deadlines, issues and the scope of the reform in general.  Also, the coalition presents its own views on judicial reform. More... Source: Transparency International Georgia

On January 25-26, IDFI, held working meetings with the private sector in the cities of Kutaisi and Batumi to discuss the availability of open government data of significance to the private sector. The events were held within the framework of the project implemented with the support of the USAID Economic Governance Program – Open Government Data study, which aims to reveal the needs, capacities, and potential that private companies have to create new services, increase efficiency, and facilitate economic growth through the use of data. More... Source: Institute for Development of Freedom of Information

Tbilisi.According to Transparency International's 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), Georgia has a score of 53 points, which is a 3 point decrease compared to the previous year.  Even though Georgia maintains its leading position in the region, it has not had such a low score since 2015. More... Source: transparency international Georgia

Tbilisi.Targeted attacks on civil organizations by the Georgian government and ruling party leaders continue. Recently, the statements made by high political officials are aimed at discrediting the organizations that fight against disinformation and work on election issues and human rights.  Given that elections are planned in the country this year, such campaigns and the use of important issues for political manipulation are especially dangerous. More... Source: Information Integrity Coalition

Tbilisi. Transparency Georgia: "In 2023, the Government of Georgia discussed at least 531 draft decrees in 48 sessions, none of which has been made public to date. In addition, the government did not publish the agenda of 4 out of 48 meetings. It is impossible to obtain the documents even by requesting public information. " Transparency Georgia call on the government administration to abandon the harmful practice of hiding decrees, comply with the law and publish all documents both on its official website and in the legislative gazette, as well as to comply with all the requirements of the law on the release of public information. More... Source: Transparency Georgia

Guria.Youth initiatives are a top priority this year!  Meet some awesome young people from Lagodekhi Municipality.  They were a big part of the EU/UNDP "People and Planet" Festival, and are now dedicated to fostering equality, education, and climate action.